The
Book of Lamentations with Commentary
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New King James Version
Lamentations 1
Jerusalem in Affliction
1 How lonely sits the city
That was full of
people!
Howlike a widow is
she,
Who was great among
the nations!
The princess among
the provinces
Has become a slave!
2 She
weeps bitterly in the night,
Her tears are on her
cheeks;
Among all her lovers
She has none to
comfort her.
All her friends have
dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her
enemies.
3 Judah
has gone into captivity,
Under affliction and
hard servitude;
She dwells among the
nations,
She finds no rest;
All her persecutors
overtake her in dire straits.
4 The
roads to Zion mourn
Because no one comes
to the set feasts.
All her gates are
desolate;
Her priests sigh,
Her virgins are
afflicted,
And she is in
bitterness.
5 Her
adversaries have become the master,
Her enemies prosper;
For the LORD has
afflicted her
Because of the
multitude of her transgressions.
Her children have
gone into captivity before the enemy.
6 And from
the daughter of Zion
All her splendor has
departed.
Her princes have
become like deer
That find no
pasture,
That flee without
strength
Before the pursuer.
7 In the
days of her affliction and roaming,
Jerusalem remembers
all her pleasant things
That she had in the
days of old.
When her people fell
into the hand of the enemy,
With no one to help
her,
The adversaries saw
her
And mocked at her
downfall.[a]
8
Jerusalem has sinned gravely,
Therefore she has
become vile.[b]
All who honored her
despise her
Because they have
seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and
turns away.
9 Her
uncleanness is in her skirts;
She did not consider
her destiny;
Therefore her
collapse was awesome;
She had no
comforter.
“ O LORD,
behold my affliction,
For the enemy is
exalted!”
10 The
adversary has spread his hand
Over all her
pleasant things;
For she has seen the
nations enter her sanctuary,
Those whom You
commanded
Not to enter Your
assembly.
11 All her
people sigh,
They seek bread;
They have given
their valuables for food to restore life.
“ See, O
LORD, and consider,
For I am
scorned.”
12
“ Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Behold and see
If there is any
sorrow like my sorrow,
Which has been
brought on me,
Which the LORD has
inflicted
In the day of His
fierce anger.
13
“ From above He has sent fire into my bones,
And it overpowered
them;
He has spread a net
for my feet
And turned me back;
He has made me
desolate
And faint all the
day.
14
“ The yoke of my transgressions was bound;[c]
They were woven
together by His hands,
And thrust upon my
neck.
He made my strength
fail;
The Lord delivered
me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.
15
“ The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my
midst;
He has called an
assembly against me
To crush my young
men;
The Lord trampled as
in a winepress
The virgin daughter
of Judah.
16
“ For these things I weep;
My eye, my eye
overflows with water;
Because the
comforter, who should restore my life,
Is far from me.
My children are
desolate
Because the enemy
prevailed.”
17 Zion
spreads out her hands,
But no one comforts
her;
The LORD has
commanded concerning Jacob
That those around
him become his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become
an unclean thing among them.
18
“ The LORD is righteous,
For I rebelled
against His commandment.
Hear now, all
peoples,
And behold my
sorrow;
My virgins and my
young men
Have gone into
captivity.
19
“ I called for my lovers,
But they deceived
me;
My priests and my
elders
Breathed their last
in the city,
While they sought
food
To restore their
life.
20
“ See, O LORD, that I am in distress;
My soul is troubled;
My heart is
overturned within me,
For I have been very
rebellious.
Outside the sword
bereaves,
At home it is like
death.
21
“ They have heard that I sigh,
But no one comforts
me.
All my enemies have
heard of my trouble;
They are glad that
You have done it.
Bring on the day You
have announced,
That they may become
like me.
22
“ Let all their wickedness come before You,
And do to them as
You have done to me
For all my
transgressions;
For my sighs are
many,
And my heart is
faint.”
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